Potential Target

Mod had decided more than half a month ago to take advantage of the auction's bustle and fish in troubled waters.

If the hunting before this had not gone smoothly, he would have decisively abandoned the idea.

But the hunt had gone very smoothly, and he had more than enough weapons. How could he possibly heed Sunny's warning?

After returning to his room, Mod changed into dark-colored clothes, then took out the disguise items he had prepared in advance.

Death Armband,

Face Mask.

The inspiration for this preparation had come from the Undertaker, Arthur.

That was why the mask Mod had made himself looked somewhat similar to Arthur's.

The only thing he regretted was that he could not imitate Arthur's bright, distinctive work clothes. Otherwise, he might even have been able to pin the blame on Arthur.

Mod swiftly strapped on the Death Armband, put on the mask that exposed only his mouth and eyes, and then looked at himself in the mirror.

"Mm, not bad."

Mod nodded in satisfaction.

Wearing a mask while posing as the Undertaker was the best cover available to him at the moment.

After disguising himself, Mod checked his weapons and ammunition.

Two flintlock pistols, a short dagger, and, most importantly, Usopp.

"Thirty lead bullets should be enough."

Mod carefully checked his ammunition pouch.

Once his preparations were complete, Mod eagerly headed outside.

He climbed onto the roof with practiced ease and made his way toward the tallest nearby building.

Before long, Mod arrived on the rooftop of a five-story building.

He gazed straight at the brightly lit streets. It was hard to imagine that such a bustling nightscape could belong to a lawless land where so many pirates had gathered.

"The auction starts at nine. Two hours left."

Mod sat down unhurriedly.

He had never intended to enter the auction house in the first place.

It was not because he was afraid of being spotted by Saul. Rather, he felt that the potential risks inside the auction house were greater than those outside.

So long as he could fish out a few targets from the surrounding area, he would be satisfied.

Before the auction began, Mod had no intention of taking action.

During his idle wait, he took out the Notebook Sunny had given him and began reading it by moonlight.

The Notebook did not actually contain as much information as he had imagined. Most of its targets were pirates who regularly stayed in Mad Hatter Town.

Mod read through it word by word.

Perhaps it was Sunny's habit, but before recording each target's strength and intelligence, she would describe the target's appearance in a few simple words.

Although the descriptions were not as detailed as The Neighbors', they were sufficient for Mod to quickly identify a target by their features.

Rustle—

Mod turned the pages from time to time.

He could not memorize everything in such a short time. Leaving an impression would be enough.

"Huh? There's one for Kid, too."

Mod was slightly surprised when he reached Kid's page.

After looking it over carefully, he found that the information leaned more toward speculation.

For example, based on Kid's obsession with buying guns, Sunny had inferred that his marksmanship was excellent.

After reading it all, there was quite a bit of fluff. Most of the information had been based on speculation.

This was probably because Sunny had never heard of or witnessed Kid's strength. On top of that, Kid came from the outer seas, so she knew very little about him.

"Kid probably hasn't eaten a Devil Fruit yet. And in terms of overall strength, he's probably still growing."

Mod recalled what he knew about Kid.

If he had a chance to kill Kid right now, Mod might hesitate for a moment, but he definitely would not let the opportunity pass.

Because no matter how much Kid's experience value might increase in a few years, Mod considered the experience value he could gain now far more important.

He turned to the next page and continued reading.

After turning several more pages, Mod suddenly saw his own name. Several lines of description appeared beneath it.

However, every one of those words had been crossed out with two black lines.

At the very bottom of the intelligence, several enormous question marks stood out in particular.

Those question marks had also suffered the same fate at the hands of the black lines.

"The way these lines are drawn makes it look like I'm already dead."

Looking at the two straight black lines above and below the writing, Mod shook his head slightly and continued turning the pages.

Soon, he reached the end of the entire Notebook.

Then Mod began a second read-through to deepen his impression.

After reading for roughly an hour and gaining a general understanding, he finally put the Notebook away.

The targets that left the deepest impression on him were not the ruthless figures Sunny had specifically marked as extremely dangerous. Instead, it was the Sharp Bull Pirates, the crew Red belonged to.

That was because among all the previous prey, Red alone had an entire group connected to him. The rest were basically scattered pirates drifting with the tide.

"The Sharp Bull Pirates, huh..."

Mod stood up and gazed at the distant lights, his thoughts beginning to stir.

His attention to the Sharp Bull Pirates was not merely because of Red.

The main reason was that the captain of the Sharp Bull Pirates was a Zoan Devil Fruit ability user.

From the confirmed information Sunny had recorded, all he knew was that it was one of the varieties of the Ox-Ox Fruit.

One of the characteristics of Zoan Devil Fruit ability users was a substantial enhancement of their physical qualities. That was precisely what made them the most profitable targets for Mod.

From this, Mod could roughly deduce the strengths of the Sharp Bull Pirates' captain, Kazt.

He was probably strong, highly durable, and powerful in close combat.

To treat such a target as prey, breaking through his defenses would be the key point to focus on.

"It's a shame I don't have Kazt's Bounty Poster."

Mod muttered to himself, thinking that he needed to find time to collect the Bounty Posters of various pirates.

Otherwise, in a situation like this, although he wanted to record Kazt's name in advance in the Hunter's Notebook, he could not do so without a facial image.

In this regard, the Bounty Posters issued by the Marines had made things much more convenient for Mod.

They not only included a photograph but also provided a full name.

Although the name could possibly be wrong, the probability was extremely low.

"It should be about time."

With an hour remaining before the auction began, Mod stopped waiting and headed straight toward Cape Street.

On Bar Street, inside a bar in an alleyway.

The Sharp Bull Pirates, led by Kazt, arrived at the entrance of a bar called Night Color.

The alley was not wide. With nearly a hundred men gathered there, it was instantly packed tight.

Kazt glanced at the bar's signboard, then led around thirty men inside in large strides.

As for the others, they surrounded the bar so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Inside the bar, the bartender Tatam and Wolf Rat, who was technically a customer, both stared expressionlessly at Kazt and the others, who had clearly come looking for trouble.

From the distinctive horned helmet and the thick beard covering his mouth,

Wolf Rat recognized Kazt's identity at a glance—the captain of the Sharp Bull Pirates.

As for why Kazt had led his men here, Wolf Rat could figure it out with his feet. He had also made his psychological preparations long ago.

Slowly rotating his wineglass, Wolf Rat glanced at the wooden-faced Tatam.

"Sorry about this."

The apology was perfunctory and painless.

Tatam remained silent.

Kazt stared coldly at Wolf Rat and said in a deep voice, "You're Wolf Rat, right? I don't like beating around the bush."

"Oh, I can tell."

Wolf Rat glanced at Kazt's horned helmet.

Yet he was not panicked in the slightest.